August 31st
by Vrock8
Summary: Warhammer 40K crossover, set on the last day of an Endless Eight. The SOS brigade members face unimaginable horrors, and the future holds no hope. Darkfic.
1. Chapter 1: Mystery

**Disclaimer:** Haruhi Suzumiya series and Warhammer 40k are owned by their respective owners.

**A/N: **Hi.

This story is grimdark, in a demeaning and mocked definition of the term ("oh, so the author guy hurt helpless innocent characters, he must think he is sooo edgy and interesting, while in truth the story is just a boring slog, full of twisted wish fulfillment and bullshit").

Well, yes. This is also a revised version, meaning I actually went back and fixed grammar errors (and also introduced new, unique and exciting ones, no doubt about it) two years and six months after the story was written. Better late than never, I guess.

Let's begin.

**/||\**

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August 31st

Chapter 1: Mystery

It was August 31st, the last day of the summer vacation and Kyon's life. Well, not exactly "life", as losing two weeks of memories and getting a brand new chance to start over would hardly be called "death" by anyone Kyon knew. Still, as he sat and stared at piles of textbooks he collected to finally start doing summer homework, his thoughts inevitably returned to the fact that after that midnight he was going to cease to exist. Disappear. Die.

"Kyon-kun, your phone!" his sister called from downstairs.

"Right, in a moment!"

He rushed to a first floor and grabbed his ringing cell from a table, knocking some crayons to the floor. His sister seemed to collect around forty of them and was currently enthusiastically drawing a rather grotesque picture.

Kyon flipped open his phone. A message flashed on the screen, "Incoming call: Koizumi Itsuki".

…_right, because listening to some obscure esoteric nonsense is *exactly* what I need right now_…

"Kyon listening. What is it?" he said rather rudely.

The person on the other end of the line didn't seem to care. "Good day, Kyon. Have you been watching the news today?"

"No, I haven't. I've been trying to do my homework". The keyword here was obviously trying, not doing, but Kyon didn't emphasize on that. The last thing he needed at that time was Koizumi thinking he gave up completely after what happened in the café the day before.

"If you are at home right now, you should turn on your TV. I would say at this point it doesn't matter what channel. I'll hold."

Kyon retrieved the remote from a pile of crayons and switched the TV on. To his surprise, the sports channel was broadcasting news. The camera was showing, with tags "live" and "no comments", a town square where a crowd of people has gathered.

And in the middle of the square was a pyramid.

Well, there was nothing inherently wrong with the pyramid. Sure, gleaming metal pyramids the size of five-storey buildings don't normally appear out of nowhere. And, case in point, most pyramids don't have a giant refractive crystal affixed at the top. But living close to a cosmic horror Haruhi was, by that point Kyon wasn't really surprised by a sudden appearance.

That being said, the thing wasn't entirely right either. The street around it, the people, the sky – everything was clear and normal. The pyramid itself – not so much. Like air above asphalt on a hot day, a thin layer of green was shimmering around the pyramid, distorting the camera feed.

"Ugh…" Kyon finally managed to choke out, much to Itsuki's delight.

"Oh, I see you are amazed as well, aren't you, Kyon?"

"Amazed is not the right word, Koizumi." Kyon glanced at his sister, who was now busy incorporating the pyramid into her drawing.

"I am sure you would like to know more about this matter. We are having a meeting right now at Nagato's apartment, and you are most welcome here."

"We?"

"Naturally, there's Yuki here, Asahina-san is about to arrive and Suzumiya-san is missing at the moment. I would ask of you to call her, maybe you will have better luck than me."

…_yeah, she'd better answer for what she had done…_

"I'll be there. See you."

"Awaiting with great anticipation."

Kyon closed the phone, sighed and immediately drowned in a stream of questions that originated somewhere inside his sister. After saying for the tenth time that no, he didn't know what's going on, and no, he wasn't going outside to look at the strange thing, he was in fact going to meet with his boring adult friends in the place where there was no TV, Kyon finally managed to get dressed and reach the door.

His sister executed her last resort tactic – grabbed him and made puppy eyes. "Kyoooon-kun, take me with you, I promise I'll be good!"

"Absolutely not!"

Kyon somehow managed to break free from the death grip and turned around, looking as sternly as a typical seventeen year old could. "You are going to stay home and be a very, very bad girl!"

And, taking the initiative and ignoring his sister's puzzled expression he finished with appropriate aplomb. "Yes, that's right. I, Kyon, hereby officially allow you, my sister, to be a very bad girl and watch TV and play video games on the entirety of this very day, the thirty-first of August!"

Kyon took a deep breath and awaited reaction. It didn't surprise him one bit.

"Yay!" she shouted, ran back and, judging from the sound of it, immediately plugged in the game controller. It seemed that the unmoving pyramid already became a boring sight for her.

"I'll be home by dinner!"

Kyon's only response was sound of a videogame intro, so he sighed and quietly closed the front door behind him. The street was nearly empty, thanks to the midday heat and the fact many of easily impressionable people rushed to the spot where the pyramid appeared.

After all, what could possibly go wrong?

**/||\**

**\||/**

"I wonder if any exist…" Haruhi said thoughtfully, observing the tiny red disc in the sky through a telescope.

"Who?"

"Martians!"

"I'd rather they didn't," Kyon remarked and got an approving nod from Mikuru as a reward. Haruhi turned away from the ocular and stared right at him, slightly frowning.

"And why is that?"

"Because the prospect of meeting a multi-tentacled _thing _is really not a prospect anyone besides you would ever consider fun."

Haruhi pouted and returned to observing the red planet. "They could be a friendly bunch, you know. Living in underground caverns and waiting for us to come… and then they would all come out and greet us…" she trailed off. Kyon looked at Isuki, who just shrugged in response. Silence descended upon the roof of Yuki's apartment building.

"All right, I'm bored. Let's look out for UFO! UFO!" Haruhi began spinning the telescope wildly and Kyon sighed.

…_I really, really wouldn't like to meet any more aliens in the nearest future…_

**/||\**

**\||/**

The door opened and Kyon was greeted by the owner of the apartment in her usual manner – that being creepy unblinking stare.

"Hello Yuki. Feeling well today?" Kyon asked. Not that she looked anything out the ordinary, but Kyon became more and more annoyed lately of conversations with her that lasted for about thirty seconds.

"Yes."

…_blink, Yuki, blink! I know you can do it! I've seen you doing it, right? Right?..._

"So… may I come in?"

"Yes."

She stepped to the side and Kyon entered the room. It seemed that nothing catastrophic has happened yet, as Itsuki was smiling his usual brand fake smile and Mikuru was sitting and quietly sipping tea. As Kyon walked in, she smiled and waved to him.

"Good day, Kyon-kun."

"And good day to you too, Asahina-san." Saying that, Kyon noticed that something was, in fact, out of the ordinary – the eastern wall of the barren room was now covered by enormous plasma TV showing live feed from town square, and there were no signs of Haruhi's presence in the room.

"Since when do you have a TV, Nagato?"

"Morning."

"Have you called Suzumiya-san?" Itsuki interrupted, and Kyon noticed that esper's smile was a little too strained.

"Yes, I did, three times. She seems to be out of network coverage. "

"It's the same with me. Her home number isn't answering either." Itsuki sat and poured tea into a spare cup. "Would you like some tea?"

…_I'd prefer to take tea from Asahina-san, not you, Mr. Too Close For Comfort…_

Kyon, however, didn't say anything as he sat next to Mikuru and drank the tea. A few minutes passed in silence. The tea reserves ran dry and Kyon felt he had to say something.

"So… are we going to just sit here and watch the gleaming green pyramid on TV till midnight?"

"Monolith."

Yuki was still standing, her gaze fixed on the strange structure. Silence again started creeping into the room, and Kyon felt a strong urge to do something, anything, just to not let that horrible silence take hold again.

"Yuki, no disrespect, but for something to called a "monolith" that thing has to be, you know, monolithic. Like, not being covered by multiple plates of metal and not having a distinct crystal at the top." He was running out of breath, but continued nevertheless. "And as crystal and metal is not the same object, it's not…" Kyon's air supply ran out and Yuki turned her head slightly to face him.

"Monolith. A single data-energy entity of unknown origin. Metallic and crystalline artificial objects, shaped to fulfill certain objective, namely, containment of data-energy within. Further analysis impossible at the moment."

…_oh-ho-ho, here we go again. Now let's hear Itsuki's long-winded explanation of how this is all a will of almighty Haruhi and Mikuru's speech about classified information. Not that I would object to that last part, of course… _

Suddenly, Kyon found out that everyone in the room were looking at him, probably expecting him to evaluate Yuki's assessment. A most uncomfortable situation indeed.

"Yeah, sure, Yuki, whatever you say. Let's call it "monolith", although it's still a pyramid-shaped, right?"

"Yes"

"E-excuse me?" Mikuru raised her hand shyly. "Is it dangerous?"

"Unknown."

"Hey, what do you mean by that "unknown"? You've been living through this day for something like four hundred years by now! Are you going to tell me now this is the first time something like this happened?"

Yuki's expression never changed as she watched Kyon's outburst, and for a moment he thought she would just say "Yes", and they would sink hopelessly into a discussion of what the hell was that thing in the TV.

Then, Yuki blinked and turned away, her voice muted and somehow pained. "I… was never able to synchronize with a version of "me" that exists at August 31st. All the versions hold information up until our yesterday's meeting at the café with Haruhi Suzumiya. Beyond that… I am sorry."

Kyon didn't really know what to respond to that. Last time he had seen Yuki like that was after a swimming pool event, when he asked her if everything was all right. "I'm fine," she said back then, and her sullen and pained expression was the same.

"I think we are about to find an answer to a question of Asahina-san," Itsuki said and pointed to the screen. Kyon noticed that esper wasn't smiling anymore.

At the side of the monolith, a large panel was sliding upward, revealing a swirling pool of sickly-green energy. Kyon now noticed that there were no idle bystanders around the pyramid – they were all pushed behind a military cordon and a few APC's were visible in the background.

The surface of an energy pool rippled, and from within, a floating construct emerged. Roughly the size of a large car, it bore an uncanny resemblance to a common bug, or rather an emaciated spider – save for a translucent green tube that was attached to where its left forward leg should have been.

…_no, they are not going to say "hi", Haruhi. They are definitely not going to say "hi"…_

With a low unnatural hiss the creature shuddered and from its insides, hundreds of tiny metallic scarabs poured out on the ground and rushed towards nearest APC. Fifty, thirty, ten meters…

"Yuki!" Kyon shouted and the TV screen immediately went blank. In the distance, one of the office buildings collapsed, and everyone in the room could make out a shape of another, smaller monolith emerging from the ruins.

"We must find Suzumiya-san. Now." Itsuki stood up and went to the door.

"K-koizumi-kun? Where are you going?" Mikuru asked. On "Mikuru breakdown" scale, she was currently somewhere at the level "terrified but not going to cry yet", which was a good thing given the circumstances.

"To her apartment, then the school clubroom. Then every place she visited frequently in the last two weeks."

…_knowing her, she would probably be in the crowd, gawking at the monolith…_

Itsuki reached for the knob, but the door didn't budge. "Nagato, what is the meaning of this?"

"Area unsafe."

On the parallel street, a newly emerged monolith was gliding silently, and from its side portal, metallic warriors were marching, though they were way too far to make out their individual details. Kyon's phone beeped and he opened it. Two lines on screen:

"No network."

"Emergency calls only."

Then, with another beep the lower line disappeared.

**/||\**

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	2. Chapter 2: Adventure

August 31st

Chapter 2: Adventure

**/||\**

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The Obon festival was at its decline and the nagging feeling of déjà-vu has finally left Kyon. As did Haruhi, who was with an incredible speed dragging Mikuru in the direction of goldfish scooping pavilion.

"Should we join them?" Itsuki offered with a smile that anyone not knowing him as much as Kyon would take for genuine. "Maybe a contest?"

"Thanks, but no thanks." The only person that was holding Kyon's attention at that moment was Yuki.

Yuki's condition was bothering Kyon a lot lately. After meeting her a few times the "pattern" of Yuki burned into his brain with maddening clarity: glasses, school uniform, short dark hair, unblinking stare. The first time that pattern was shattered was right after a fateful encounter with Ryoko Asakura. The second time was a few days ago, after their not so fateful visit to a public pool.

But at the moment Yuki looked plainly sad, which in a scope of her character meant that something the size of a Data Integrated Entity recently died and had to be mourned over. So Kyon decided to use a tactic tried and used countless times in fiction and real life for cheering up emotionless girls and other brooding or moping people.

"Hey, Nagato, want to grab something to eat?"

Her response was a blink and a finger point towards a festival stand.

"You want to buy a mask? Sure, I'll…"

He didn't finish, as she already took off and made it half the way to the stall. From that point on he could only helplessly watch as she selected a rather unnerving blue mask, paid eight hundred yen to a smiling shopkeeper and put the mask on.

And, much to Kyon's uneasiness, she proceeded to wear that mask for more than half an hour after that, up until return of Haruhi and her command: "Take it off, it's creepy."

**/||\**

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**

They managed to get to the street, after Mikuru's observation of not seeing anything dangerous and Yuki's assessment that area was within acceptable safety parameters. Slightly out of breath after using the stairs, as power seemed to be down in the whole city, Kyon finally decided to start a very unpleasant, but unavoidable conversation.

"Yuki, how many people have died?"

"At the moment of power outage, various sources indicated a casualty rate of approximately six hundred."

Well, if Kyon's goal with that question was to bring Mikuru to tears, he sure succeeded, but he continued, doing his best to ignore the gasp and subsequent sobs.

"So, if we somehow find Haruhi, what's going to happen? Will she bring them back? Or this all doesn't matter if time is reset?"

"Allow me to answer that," Itsuki cut in with a rather theatrical gesture. "As we all know Suzumiya-san, with all her unimaginable power is thankfully still unaware of it. She is also most likely to be unaware of the amount of destruction her creations wrought. And so-"

"We need to keep moving," Yuki interrupted, and Itsuki had to continue his tirade while keeping pace with the rest of the group.

"And thus, the moment she learns of the horrors of the monoliths, her subconscious mind will reject this part of a time stream, and we will be back in August 16th."

Itsuki finished with a triumphant smile, and Mikuru smiled back to him through the tears.

…_well, just look at that. I am now a bad guy who upsets Mikuru, and he is the savior…_

"Wait just a moment there Koizumi. All this time you were implying that Haruhi was just a spoiled child who turned back time because she didn't have enough fun on her vacation. But now, seeing all this, how can you still defend her?"

Kyon pointed at one of the destroyed buildings, but Itsuki's look was stern."Suzumiya-san _is _a good person, despite what you might think of her in view of recent events. Once we find her-"

"Contact," Yuki said, and brigade members stopped.

How it got that close, Kyon couldn't remember. Maybe it was hiding in a shade of a fallen tree, or floated from a rooftop of nearby building, that didn't really matter. What did, however, was that it was less than twenty meters from them and looked a lot like a miniature plump version of a creature they've seen emerging from the monolith.

To be fair, unlike its larger variant, this floating iron beetle didn't look threatening at all. Sure, it had very sharp scissor-like pincers that it opened and closed with faint clicking, but they looked decorative more than anything. It also seemed to regard the group with an aura of curiosity, not menace.

Then it exploded from inside, spilling its oily green innards on the ground. Kyon instinctively stepped away from Yuki, who was now surrounded by faint multicolored aura, spewing techno-gibberish and generally looking like a person to get away from as far and as fast as possible.

The empty husk managed to hang in the air for a few seconds, then it was violently thrown by some invisible force against a nearby wall, shattering on impact. Yuki's aura faded and she proceeded along the street.

"Yuki… overkill much?" Kyon voiced an opinion of the rest of the group. Not that he cared about the beetle in any way, but then again, he didn't expect for the creature to actually bleed.

Yuki stopped and turned her head slightly. "It hated us."

"Us?"

"The living. They all hate us, consider us inferior species. From the lowest scouting drone to beings they worship as gods, a culture of hatred and disdain for flesh. So I killed it."

She turned away, but Kyon caught a glint in her eye he didn't like one bit.

**/||\**

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**

Despite heavy conditioning, air in the batting center still felt heavy and bore traces of sweat. Not that it matters when you are bombarded by heavy balls at high-speed, but now, sitting on a bench next to Yuki and waiting for Suzumiya to finish her practice the smell was starting to get to him.

"Ha!" Haruhi exclaimed and a split second later, the latest ball she parried hit the plaque "Home Run". She span in place, faced Kyon and grinned. "Did you see that?"

"Yes, Haruhi, you are the greatest player ever," Kyon said with as much false sincerity he could muster and resisted an urge to slap his forehead in frustration.

…_how is it possible for her body to hold so much energy? How?..._

Haruhi returned to her activities and Kyon's thoughts found another direction. If he was frustrated, idly waiting for an hour, then how is then Yuki had felt? Thousands of repetitions of the same two weeks, including this hour, waiting for Haruhi…

"Hey, Nagato," Kyon said without turning to her, "you noticed time was looping before Asahina-san said anything, right?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you do anything then?" He glanced at Yuki now, but despite his expectations, her expression wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

"My job is to observe."

"I see…"

He didn't see her point, of course. In fact, Kyon firmly believed that if Yuki warned them earlier they would have had better chances of breaking the time loop.

But naturally, Kyon didn't want to blame her for anything or try to wrench information about endless iterations – that would only make her upset and ultimately get them nowhere.

"Yes! I did it again! Go me!" Haruhi, lit from all sides by flashing lights, struck a pose and pointed her bat at the ball shooting machine. "Bring it on, foul beast, no matter what tricks you pull, I'll always hit you in your weakest point, the "Home Run" plate!"

Kyon sighed.

**/||\**

**\||/****  
**

So far their track through the blasted city was more or less uneventful. A few times they had to change streets either because of rubble blocking their way or Yuki's directions to a safer area. The city seemed to be completely deserted, even stray animals left the streets. From few short conversations they had along the way, Kyon learned that evacuation had started early in the morning, long before the first monolith activated.

The condition of brigade members, as far as Kyon could tell, was pretty satisfactory. Or at least so he thought until Itsuki stopped and said one of the most outrageous and insane phrases one could say in their current situation.

"This is where we part ways." He turned and looked in the direction of Haruhi's apartment. "Nagato, I trust you to cover the school and ensure protection of Kyon and Asashina-san. Can I count on you in this matter?"

"Yes."

It didn't escape Kyon she said it too quickly, and he knew Yuki pretty well to tell when she was lying.

Yuki's issue had to wait, though. Despite not liking the esper very much, and barely tolerating his overdramatic speeches at times, a fate of walking alone for ten or so blocks left to Haruhi's place was a fate Kyon wouldn't want for his worst enemy.

"Look, Koizumi," he said, in a tone that is usually used to stop suicide jumpers. "I'm sure you want to get to Haruhi as fast as possible, but it's really only half an hour difference. You-"

"That's not the case, not that at all. They are… calling for me." A corner of his mouth twitched and he sharply turned away.

"Itsuki, you are making no sense, who are calling? The monsters? What the hell is going on?" Kyon shouted and immediately regretted it.

…_yep, I managed to upset Mikuru again. Just great… _

"No, no, no, not the monsters, of course not the monsters." Itsuki didn't turn back, so Kyon couldn't see his face, but he could tell the esper was smiling again. "The other members of our organization. We are holding a… meeting, yes, a private meeting at the apartment of Suzumiya-san. Excuse me, I don't want to be late."

He started walking away.

"Let him go," Yuki said simply, but Kyon knew that he would be stopped faster than he would take as much as one step towards Itsuki. He watched esper walking around one of the piles of rubble and caught one last glimpse of his face – a twitching face locked in mad glee.

"What… happened to him?" Kyon whispered.

"His neurological parameters have changed since yesterday," was an emotionless answer.

"Oh, really now, Nagato. You knew it, didn't you? And you held it all inside, just as always, because you are to observe. Well tell me, what is going to happen next? I'm going to start vomiting blood and you are going to tell me that my body changed since yesterday, huh?"

"Waaa…" Mikuru collapsed on her knees, crying. "Please, don't fight, we can't fight right now…"

_...what am I doing? I shout at Yuki, I upset Mikuru... It's just not right..._

Feeling ashamed, Kyon sat on the nearest block of debris and stared in the direction Itsuki had left. Mikuru's sobs quieted down and silence took hold.

There was a faint clicking sound, and Kyon sprang to his feet and frantically began searching for the source of the noise. Despite his expectations of appearance of another mechanical monster, the sound originated from a bike parking rack across the street, where Yuki was searching for a serviceable transportation. Mikuru was still sitting at the middle of the street and Kyon helped her get up.

"So, Yuki… need any help?" Not that Kyon really expected he could be useful to her in any way, but he needed a way to start a conversation somehow.

"No."

._..why was she lying back then? It is either because she is not sure if she can protect us, or we are not going to the clubroom. I guess it's pretty easy to find out..._

"We are going to school, right?"

"Yes." Yuki then whispered something, and a lock chaining another damaged bike opened.

Despite Yuki's monosyllable answers Kyon decided to press the issue. "Do you think we will find Haruhi there?"

"I don't know."

"I see," Kyon lied and looked at Mikuru. She opened her mouth, as if about to say something, but didn't and shook her head, muttering her usual "classified information" thing.

"Asahina-san? Is something wrong?"

She managed a faint smile. "No, it's nothing like that. You are right, Kyon-kun, we should get to school as soon as possible."

"This one's integrity will hold," Yuki said, detached a mostly undamaged bike from the rack and passed it to Kyon.

…_riding a bike with Mikuru behind! Finally, my wildest dreams come true!..._

And for a moment Kyon forgot he was in a half-destroyed city, surrounded by untold mechanical horrors.

**/||\**

**\||/****  
**

"Kyon, you are late, and you are going to receive a penalty," Haruhi declared with grave seriousness.

"But… I'm fifteen minutes early, Haruhi! I don't deserve it! Spare me!" Kyon lamented. His sarcasm was noticed only by Itsuki, whose smile became a bit more real for a moment.

"Absolutely not! You arrived after us all, and you are going to be punished, oh yes!" Haruhi gazed to the sky, thinking of some unimaginable torment to plunge Kyon into.

"So, did you all come on your bikes?" Kyon asked, mostly to distract Haruhi and it had the intended effect – she snapped back to reality, and her expression brightened up.

"No, only you and Koizumi-kun did, so we are going to have a race!"

She ran to Kyon and sat behind him on the bike, hugging him tightly and whispering, "I still remember about the penalty" into his ear. Well, he would certainly prefer Mikuru in her place, but he didn't really mind. What he did mind, is that she then screamed, "Yuki, come sit behind me" and "To the public pool!" at the top of her lungs. Momentarily deafened by Haruhi's loudness at close range, Kyon missed the start of the race and had to begin with a handicap.

The race itself was pretty hard. Sure, they didn't have to avoid any glass-carrying workers or shopping carts full of groceries, but with Haruhi's shouts, "Turn here!" right before the mentioned turn, the fact they arrived to the pool without any deadly traffic incidents was no less than an act of divine intervention.

"Aw, Kyon, so tired already? We are just getting started," Haruhi chirped, patted Kyon on the back and skipped happily to a ticket sales booth.

Kyon fell to the ground, trying to get some air, and it occurred to him that this was probably the closest he was ever to actually dying. It certainly felt that way, anyway.

"You need help?" Koizumi was helpful as always, a trait of him Kyon would like to see as little as possible.

"I'm perfectly fine." He refused a hand and stood up, still panting a little but feeling much better and oxygenated than a minute ago.

Hauhi waved to them from a distance, tickets in hand. "Come on, you slowpokes! We are supposed to do summer-time activities in the summer! Time never gets back once it's spent!"

…_of course, she would want me to lose, no doubt about it. I just hope that was my entire penalty…_

Like a condemned criminal, Kyon started walking his last mile to a pool entrance.

**/||\**

**\||/****  
**

They were getting close to a school, and the level of destruction around them intensified. Monoliths had been moving extensively through the area, paving their own streets that usually went perpendicularly to the existing ones. Kyon speculated that the pyramids were creating something comparable to crop circles.

Road intersections were entirely another thing. The buildings around them were mostly intact and at the center of each junction ominous dark obelisks of various sizes had been erected by the invaders. Yuki ordered to avoid some of the larger ones, so the trip took longer than Kyon expected.

It's hard to keep a complex conversation going while riding a bike, so the three remaining members of SOS brigade were mostly quiet. Kyon's thoughts kept returning to Koizumi and his sudden strange change in behavior, and as for the others, he couldn't tell.

Finally, they reached the bottom of a hill the school was on and decided to take a break. Kyon sat on one of the undamaged benches next to a closed electronics store and stretched. A sheet of paper on the ground attracted his attention and he leaned in for a closer look.

In a recent hour, a few cargo planes flew overhead at low altitude, distributing pamphlets over the city, and this was one of them. On top of the pamphlet in gold stylized letters was printed a maxim: "THE EMPEROR PROTECTS".

"Hey, Nagato," Kyon called out. Yuki was kneeling beside their bike, whispering something to gears in a transmission and looked rather busy, but Kyon decided to ask anyway. "Isn't the prime minister supposed to be the leader of the nation?"

Mikuru picked up another pamphlet and began reading from it. "I-in times of crisis, when all hope is lost, the Holy Emperor preserves. The Imperial Guard is here to protect you, citizens. Pray, and salvation will come for you…" She looked around helplessly. "But we haven't seen any soldiers yet, have we?"

For that matter, they haven't seen any other people, living or dead since the time they left Nagato's apartment and the city was starting to feel very unnatural to Kyon. Questions were piling up, but the only person who could answer them was Yuki, and if she could become even more distant and emotionless, she sure did since Koizumi's departure.

"Nagato-"

Yuki stood up, glaring at Kyon with such intensity that the words stuck in his throat.

"Kyon, have you rested enough?" He managed a nod, so Yuki continued. "Good. Then let us proceed to school grounds"

…_h-hey, Yuki, you can't scare me like that! No matter what, when we get to the clubroom we will all sit down and I will keep bugging you until this all craziness starts to finally make sense..._

Carrying a bike with them, the trio walked up the hill to the gates. As expected on the last day of holidays, the school exterior was in pristine condition, signs of minor repairs hidden under a layer of fresh white paint. Emperor's pamphlets littered the school yard, and in the center of it, a lone figure stood. Humanoid in shape, crooked in posture, it was draped in torn dark robes and leaning on an ornate bladed staff.

With a yelp, Mikuru grabbed Kyon's arm and hid behind him, trembling. This was pretty understandable given that despite standing more thirty meters away from them, the figure was pretty damn horrifying.

The figure focused its gaze on Yuki, two horizontal slits of baleful green fire.

"Ancient beyond known time, he had forgotten his name," Yuki said in flat monotone, her eyes completely blank. "Necron Lord and General, Proxy of the Deciever, Darkslayer - those are his names now. He calls and I obey. He speaks and I listen."

"Yuki, snap out of it!" Kyon tried to reach out for her, but his hand literally hit an invisible wall and Yuki took a few steps forward.

"The false God is gone, and a new one takes its place. My service has ended and he deems me worthy. I am to make a choice and I…"

Yuki stopped and her posture slumped. Life returned to her voice but she didn't turn back.

"I am... so tired…"

She broke into a running start, and with inhuman agility dodged a crackling energy beam the monster fired from his staff. Her left hand shifted into a curved glowing blade.

…_was it always like that for her? Just watching, unable to do anything?.. _

The necron lord span the staff and scattered sheets of paper rose in the air, blocking Kyon's view. Yuki avoided another emerald beam and stabbed into the cloud of pamphlets.

Suddenly, in a blinding flash of light, the lord appeared less than ten meters away from Kyon, and for a moment he caught a glimpse of the creature's face – an elongated metallic skull. The skeletal ribcage of the lord was damaged where Yuki hit it, tiny black scarabs pouring out of the wound.

The iron skeleton hissed and charged at Nagato, his form sequentially becoming translucent and solid again. She fell back closer to the school, leading the creature away from the gates. Another beam missed and Yuki counter-attacked, violently throwing her opponent to the ground and tearing off the staff, along with the arm that held it.

…_for more than four hundred years, the same two weeks of summer…_

Then, the monster laughed, an echoing, metallic, insane laughter. Yuki attacked again, vaporizing part of the asphalt her opponent was just on. The necron phased back, picking up his staff and spinning it around once again.

From the tip of a staff, energy streamed in all directions, clinging to objects like a fuzzy green lightning. The floating sheets of paper froze in the air, and Yuki's motions lost all speed and grace.

…_not belonging to yourself, just helplessly watching… _

Still laughing, the monster thrust the staff forward, impaling Yuki through the chest and raising her body up in triumph. Blood streamed down the shaft and the necron turned, displaying his trophy to Kyon. From behind the monster, the central section of the school wall exploded outward, revealing the monolith hidden inside. Debris showered downward, and then stopped, caught by sinister energies.

…_and all she ever wanted was to be free…_

The laughter was suddenly cut as Yuki's glowing sword elongated and pierced right through the skull and down the ribcage of the creature, slicing the necron almost in half. The staff shattered and the stasis aura dissipated, releasing the trapped leaflets and debris. Yuki stood up, blades still sticking out of her chest and, although it was too far to tell for sure, smiled.

…_to be free…_

The crystal at the top of the monolith blazed, and massive amounts of energy streamed down in a wide arc, turning Yuki, her opponent and most of the yard into sickly green vapor. The invisible wall collapsed, throwing Kyon and Mikuru backwards and thus saving them from a narrow beam one of the smaller projectors near the top of a pyramid fired.

"We are getting out of here!" Kyon rushed to the bike, dragging Mikuru with him. The monolith turned slightly, bringing another projector into a firing arc, but they were already behind a low wall surrounding a school. It fired nevertheless, punching a hole through a wall but missing its intended targets.

"Ok, get on the bike, we can still make it!" Kyon straightened the vehicle and Mikuru silently complied, clutching him desperately.

Kyon started in high gear, swerving dangerously but quickly managing to bring the bicycle to speed. As he plunged downhill, both wings of the school collapsed, burying Yuki's final battlefield under tons of concrete and releasing a cloud of dust into air.

And then there was only silence.

**/||\**

**\||/**


	3. Chapter 3: Horror

August 31st

Chapter 3: Horror

**/||\**

**\||/****  
**

If anyone ever asked Kyon what good spending nearly a half year close to Haruhi Suzumiya did to him, his first answer would be: "I got better at riding a bike." Her habit of arranging meetings right before their scheduled times and minor, but extremely annoying penalties for being late really left him no choice but to improve.

Of course, no matter what training he received nothing could prepare him for being chased by a monolith. Well, not exactly "chased", as the only effort the ponderous pyramid made was sliding from a school yard to the top of a hill and firing a few beams in the escapees general direction, with the only effect of Mikuru whimpering and hugging Kyon even tighter, if such a thing was possible.

For Kyon, everything blurred, and not only from speed. His thoughts somehow failed to connect to one another, flashing and disappearing in an instant. How long he was in that state he couldn't tell, probably a few minutes at most, then Mikuru's frantic scream thrust him back to reality just in time to avoid slamming into a bent road sign. He managed to do so, nearly losing balance and slowed down a little.

"Asahina-san, it's hard to breathe."

"S-sorry." Mikuru let go a little and Kyon surveyed their surroundings. They were still in the zone obelisks were erected, and despite feeling a little tired he decided to keep the speed up.

"Kyon-kun, Yuki…"

…_Yuki is going to be just fine, Mikuru. Is that what I am supposed to say? Is that what I am supposed to believe?..._

Mikuru started sobbing and shaking, which didn't really help Kyon keep the balance, but he remained silent. He knew the district around the school pretty well, but a few larger obelisks forced him to turn to an adjacent one, an area they didn't pass through on a way to the clubroom.

And now, looking for a way to get back to familiar surroundings, he started noticing a lot he didn't notice before. Whether Yuki had been messing with their senses or just plainly removing anything on the way that could do harm to their psyche, now the true scale of destruction became evident.

There was blood, everywhere. It formed large stains on sidewalks, flowed down to storm drains, curdling and drying in the summer heat. There were corpses, or rather almost completely burned piles of cloth and bone, grisly results of enemy energy beams. There were charred skeletons inside burnt out cars and buses, faint screams of people buried alive under collapsed buildings, smell and taste of death in the air...

All that Kyon viewed with an odd sense of detachment, as if watching a TV report shot from a news helicopter. There was a boy riding a bicycle, a girl sitting behind him, and she was crying for some unknown reason. Tomorrow they would go to the same school, and later meet in a literature club. It became hard for a boy to pedal, and he shifted a gear. The transmission clicked, then the chain broke and the boy…

"Kyon-kun, what happened?"

Kyon drove by inertia to the side of the road and stopped. "We have a problem," he said.

They stepped off the bike; Kyon knelt to examine the chain and sighed. Whatever magic Yuki worked into the gears and whether it allowed them to go faster or steadier, it had faded and the transmission jammed, trapping a part of the chain inside. Kyon stood up.

"I can't fix it, we'll have to go on foot from now on. But first we have to rest and think of a plan." He looked around and noticed a narrow alley nearby. "Come on, Mikuru, let's hide."

Thankfully, there were no corpses in the alley, and Kyon felt a little relieved. It was unlikely Mikuru was noticing the carnage around while they rode, and he didn't want her to notice now. She would cry again, and her crying was starting to get more and more annoying lately. More than anything, Kyon needed rest.

…_come to think of it, I haven't eaten anything since morning, and the last time I drank was… right, tea at Nagato's place and it was…_

Kyon dug out a phone from his pocket and checked the time, trying to force stray thoughts about Yuki out of his head.

"Kyon-kun…" Mikuru piped up. Unlike Kyon, she didn't sit down and was looking to the sides of the alley nervously. "What do we do now?"

Kyon put the phone back and rubbed his temples. "Isn't it obvious? Go to Haruhi's apartment, find her there, end this nightmare and go home. That's what we'll do."

…_three hours in the heat, running, trying not to die, trying to protect Mikuru…_

"But even if we get there…" She didn't finish the sentence, and it didn't escape Kyon it looked like she regretted starting the conversation.

"But what, Asahina-san? Is there something very specific you would like to tell me?"

Mikuru looked down, avoiding eye contact. "I'm afraid that's classified-"

"Bullshit!" he snapped, and Mikuru recoiled, clearly afraid.

"That's bullshit, Mikuru," Kyon repeated and stood up. "There are times for classified information and there are times when people get turned into piles of bloody ash. So tell me, Mikuru-chan, what is so classified right now?"

"Wa… waaa…" Mikuru broke into tears, but Kyon took a step forward, grabbed her arm and leveled her face with his.

"What about me, Asahina, huh? What about me? You want to cry and you cry. Nagato wants to die and she dies. Koizumi… don't know what happened to him but he sure did what he wanted, didn't he? But what about me?"

"Kyon-kun, you're hurting-"

"Damn right I'm hurting you!" Kyon yelled, not really caring who might hear it. "All this time, did you know what I wanted? Come on, make a guess! Make a guess what I want to do right now!"

He pushed her and she fell, hitting the ground hard. She didn't make an attempt to get up or crawl away, just turned and looked at advancing Kyon.

"You are free to do what you want," she whispered. Kyon stopped for a moment, then laughed.

"Really? Just like that? No crying, no screaming, no monsters interrupting, no Haruhi running from around the corner with a hidden camera, no Yuki…"

"Haruhi is gone," Mikuru said, and those simple words brought Kyon back to senses. Suddenly aware of where he was, what he did and what he was about to do, he stumbled backwards, nearly tripping.

"Asahina-san, I'm sorry. I know it's hard for you, but I-"

"No!" Mikuru rose back to her feet, pulled out a rather ordinary looking pen from her pocket and pointed it at Kyon. The whole scene looked pretty ridiculous, but Kyon didn't feel like laughing.

"You don't know how hard it is to be me, Kyon. Wearing a mask, playing a role every day, nights spent making reports to superiors, not seeing my real friends for months..." She was advancing now, waving a pen around and Kyon shuddered, imagining what would happen to him if Mikuru decided to actually use that thing.

"I am nothing, Kyon, a tool, a walking eye candy – all for your precious Haruhi. Well, where is she now, do you want to know?"

At that point more than anything Kyon wanted to turn and run for his life, as taking chances with the monsters instead of facing the hysterical Mikuru with a pen started to look like a reasonable idea. He, however, nodded, and Mikuru's expression softened a bit.

"Good. Than know this – she left us here to die. Just left, used her own method of {classified information}. But that's not all, you know what the best part is?" Kyon shook his head and Mikuru continued, smiling through the tears. "She also used {classified information}, imprinting us on herself when she left. Which means anything that happens to us after yesterday's meeting at that café is meaningless, and the timeframe will simply implode today at midnight. Have you ever seen a timeframe imploding, Kyon?"

Having no other choice, Kyon shook his head again. Slowly backing away, he was almost near the end of an alley, a few more steps – and he would be on an open street.

"And I have, on graphs and slides. Nothing survives inside, nothing. I don't want to die, but I'm going to die anyway. So tell me, Kyon, tell me your great plan of how we are going to survive this. Tell me."

…_why are you smiling, Mikuru? Because you finally could tell it to someone?…_

There was complete silence in the alley now. Mikuru barely stood, having spent all of her resolve on that monologue, her face a strange mix of a crazy smile and tear-filled eyes. Kyon was at a loss for words, after all, what could he really say to that?

Then, he heard a faint, but recognizable sound of an idling truck engine. It was originating somewhere behind him, probably less than a block away. Mikuru heard it too and lowered the pen.

"I... I don't want to die too, Asahina-san, so let's just go and…"

What happened next happened so fast Kyon not only didn't have time to do anything, he didn't even have time to get frightened. Their floating attacker phased through a wall between them in a complete silence, then span around with a strange slicing sound and locked its gaze at Kyon's face.

More than anything, the monster looked like a giant floating cobra, if a cobra had a metallic humanoid skull for a face and two arms ending in vicious claws.

…_no, not just claws. Syringes, scalpels, tiny energy blades… this thing isn't just going to kill me, it is going to *experiment*…_

The next instant Kyon was blinded, not by light but by a sudden flash of darkness that consumed most part of the upper torso and head of a creature. The remaining parts fell to the ground, oily green liquid flowing out of the mangled heap.

Kyon looked at Mikuru. She wasn't holding a pen anymore, she was wincing and clutching her stomach instead. She took a few uneven steps, then swayed to the side and slid down the wall, the lower part of her blouse quickly turning red.

"Mikuru, you're bleeding," Kyon dumbly stated the obvious. He stood, frozen in place and watched blood being soaked into her clothes, then dripping down when fabric couldn't hold any more liquid.

…_when did it happen? When the creature turned? How could it happen?… _

"We… we have to stop the bleeding somehow…" Kyon said, but he still didn't move. Mikuru was silent, cringing from pain and staring at the opposite alley wall.

The remains of creature's spine flexed, and tiny green sparks showered from its wider end into a pool of mechanical viscera. It boiled, and Kyon could see wires connecting inside and tiny pieces of metal melding into larger ones, forming ribs and entrails.

Kyon's stupor ended and he rushed to Mikuru, jumping over the regenerating monster. He helped her stand up, and they walked back, around the pool where skull began to take shape, to the street in the direction of the sound of a working engine. Mikuru was unresponsive, and Kyon had to drag almost all of her weight.

They passed a building, then another one. Kyon looked back, but the street was still empty and he continued towards the source of the engine noise.

"Isn't it funny…" Mikuru was getting paler and paler and her voice was barely above whisper, but she was still conscious, and Kyon was thankful for that.

"…they look like they are already dead, but it wanted to live so hard it regenerated even after I hit it with {classified information}. They are so much like us…"

"Keep talking, Mikuru, don't fall asleep. We are almost there." That was a lie, of course. Kyon didn't have a slightest idea where the noise was coming from, all he knew he was getting a little closer.

"I've seen their leader using something like our own {classified information} and {classified information}… They will probably… escape the implosion… and…"

Mikuru's eyes closed and her body went limp. Kyon cursed, dragging her past another building and trying to keep pressure on the wound. He stopped right before a corner and prayed.

…_Ok, fine. I've been a bad person, I've been indecisive and weak, I couldn't stop Haruhi from leaving, I couldn't save Yuki, and Mikuru got hurt, fine. It's all my fault. Now, all I ask for is a little miracle so she won't die. So God, Emperor, Haruhi or whoever listens, please, just don't let her die…_

He turned around the corner of a building and the miracle happened.

It took shape of a very terrified soldier with a machine gun, who yelled something incoherent about "skin horrors" and opened fire at point blank range. Or rather, he would have if his gun wasn't still on safety, so the weapon made a few pathetic clicks and jammed. From an adjacent alley, a small squad of soldiers appeared, led by a sergeant in heavy body armor.

"What the hell? Those are unarmed wounded civilians, you blind idiot!" The sergeant made his way to the hapless soldier and gave him a hearty punch in the face. "Raising false alarm in a war zone is a punishable offense, so be glad there is no Commissar around. Go see a medic."

The whimpering soldier staggered to the alley, blood streaming down from a broken nose, and the sergeant pointed at Kyon.

"You have ten seconds to tell me how you got here, and how she got wounded, and I'd better believe your explanation or we're leaving you here."

…_we were riding a bike augmented by techno sorcery, then got into a fight with a monster that phased through a wall and she used her future weapon to fend it off, but the creature got her anyway…_

"We were riding a bike, and had an accident. It all happened very fast, I don't know how she got hurt so badly." Kyon tried to put as much plausible truth as he could into his statement, as being left behind after they got so far would be extremely stupid and consequently tragic.

The man raised his brow slightly, and for one dreadful second Kyon thought that the soldiers would just turn away and leave. Then, a faint sound came out of sergeant's earpiece and the man put a hand to his head, listening to the report.

"Enemy movement confirmed to the southeast, let's move, people. That includes you." He pointed at Kyon again and one of the soldiers in the squad moved in to support Mikuru from the other side.

They walked through a narrow alley, then across another street, where a military truck was parked. Metal plates were hastily welded to sides of the vehicle, bearing words in golden paint "THE EMPEROR PROTECTS". It was more for boosting morale than actual protection, as Kyon could clearly see a circular hole in one of the plates, as one of the beams had punched through the truck, creating a similar perfect hole on the other side.

They were the last one to enter the vehicle before it took off. The weary squad medic regarded Mikuru with a slight aura of annoyance, muttering something about crazy teenagers and hopeless cases but nevertheless did his job well, stopping the blood and assuring Kyon she would at least make it to the hospital.

Sitting on a narrow bench beside the other soldiers, Kyon leaned to a side of a truck, drained by everything he had to go through during the day.

…_I've been through hell, but I survived. We are going to a hospital, where all I'll have to do is to worry about Mikuru and…_

Unbeknownst to him, Kyon was starting to fall asleep, but was brought back to reality rather harshly by the sergeant pushing a chart board into his hands.

"You. Fill this form, all fields mandatory." Blinking away his drowsiness, Kyon tried to focus on the board. The sergeant patted him on the shoulder and smiled.

"Welcome to the Imperial Guard, son."

**/||\**

**\||/**

It was really strange. For some unknown reason the whole SOS brigade was gathered by Haruhi near a shopping mall, given frog costumes and assigned with the task of promoting a toy store by distributing balloons to children.

The heat was absolutely unbearable, the only ventilation of the costume were two small holes - frog's nostrils. They also doubled as viewing ports, giving a field of vision about quarter normal. The whole thing was bulky, itchy and stupid.

But Kyon didn't complain. They all were in the same boat, so if they wanted to survive they had to cooperate. Passing water to each other, taking turns resting on a bench in a shade, entering a mall to breathe some conditioned air – they worked as a team, and they made it through the day. During the endless hours, strangest thoughts occupied Kyon's mind, for example, how colors and faces or their costumes reflected outer traits of their personalities. Naive bright green for Mikuru, smug and striped for Itsuki, yellow and expressionless for Yuki, and for him, cynical and brown.

…_what color Haruhi would be if she worked? Poison pink with blue stripes?..._

Now, sitting in a small office room after hours, Kyon realized how little is required for happiness. Namely, not having a giant toad head on your shoulders.

The door swung open, and Haruhi triumphantly entered the room, holding a popsicle in her hand. She didn't look tired at all, and dark murderous thoughts started forming in Kyon's head.

Haruhi smiled at him, and the thoughts dissipated, leaving a trace of mild annoyance behind. Which he didn't hesitate one moment to put into words.

"What's with the special treatment, Haruhi?"

"Oh, this?" She took a small bite from a popsicle. "I've spoken to the manager, and he appreciated our work very much."

"I don't want to be appreciated, I want to be paid." Kyon noticed that other members of the team were looking at Haruhi hopefully. Well, except Yuki, who was reading a book and could, if needed, create money out of thin air anyway.

"Pay?" Haruhi looked puzzled for a moment, then brightened up. "Our pay is this!"

She pointed at Mikuru and slowly starting walking towards her, like a cat to a cornered mouse. "The manager let me have her costume, and I'm going to put it in the clubroom as a trophy!"

…_we were slaving out for such a stupid reason?..._

Mikuru's face was now a mask utter horror, as Haruhi drew closer and closer with every step. "I give you my permission to wear it any time you like, Mikuru-chan. In fact, how about you wear it right now?"

She grabbed a frog head from a table and started pushing it on Mikuru, despite the tears and weak attempts of resistance. Finally, last ounces of strength left Asahina, and the frog costume became complete.

And Kyon said the only word that could summarize all his thoughts and feelings at the moment.

"Ribbit."

**/||\**

**\||/****  
**

Naturally, the sergeant didn't seriously consider giving Kyon a weapon right away and assigning him to a squad. After receiving a completed form and checking birth date from a school ID card Kyon presented, he frowned slightly, lost all interest in the boy and returned to listening to radio traffic.

They drove for about fifteen minutes, then the truck came to an abrupt stop and the sergeant ordered loading and unloading procedures.

Kyon was nearly pushed out by soldiers, who immediately started hauling body bags stacked on a sidewalk into a vehicle. After shadowy illumination of a truck, the midday sun was blinding, and Kyon lost his orientation for a moment.

"Report to your new commanding officer," the sergeant said and pointed at a middle-aged man nearby. The last body was loaded into a vehicle and the soldiers were ready to leave.

…_but… if they leave I won't be able to see Mikuru again! I must do something!…_

"Wait, wait! What hospital are you taking Mikuru to? I have to know!"

The sergeant, already climbing back into a truck, half-turned to a perplexed boy and barked "classified information, trooper," an answer Kyon found to be pretty ironic.

Then the truck sped away and full gravity of the situation hit him.

…_there is no SOS brigade anymore. No escape, no hope, almost no time left…_

"Hey, kid, stop staring, we are on a schedule. What's your name?"

"Everyone I know calls me Kyon." He turned and passed his file to a man in civilian overalls, who glanced at it and chuckled.

"No wonder, with a name like that. You can call me Mr. Ishimura, and I am overseeing the operation."

"The operation?"

Kyon looked around. They were alone on an empty street, but from around the corner, the sound of a working construction vehicle could be heard.

"You'll find out soon enough. Come on, we have a lot of work to do."

And so Kyon began his fight against the enemies of the Emperor, his weapons being heavy duty work gloves, his armor – a bright yellow armband signifying he was a part of a disaster relief.

Their small group of twenty or so workers, a medic and six soldiers patrolling a perimeter worked around the ruined remains of a small office building. A pharmaceutical company was formerly located in it, and there were supplies of strong chemicals stored in the basement that had to be dug out, saving lives and transporting crushed bodies away was secondary at best. The location was of little importance, far from actual battle lines and was seeing little traffic from the military.

As for Kyon himself, after being asked a single question: "you want to see corpses up close?" and his obvious answer, he was assigned to various miscellaneous duties that included removing small rubble from a street, helping a medic to do an inventory of empty body bags and used medicine, distributing water among the workers and helping with painting a graffiti bearing uplifting words of the Emperor.

Hours went by, their little world untouched by a war raging in the streets. They finally found a survivor, a security guard with fractured legs, and Ishimura requested transportation to a hospital. The truck arrived almost an hour later, but it wasn't the same truck Kyon was in, so he asked the overseer if he could learn about Mikuru's condition somehow. He received a polite, but firm refusal.

The sun set and they finally reached the basement of a building. Ishimura ordered a break, and workers separated into small groups around the site. Kyon sat alone, gazing at the night sky. A massive energy beam shot upward from some location in the city, lighting everything with eerie green light before disappearing in the heavens.

The overseer approached Kyon and sat next to him. "Hey, kid, how are you holding up?"

"Tired."

"I requested an evacuation vehicle for us. Specialists with proper hazmat equipment are going to take it from here tomorrow."

…_tomorrow?..._

"You are not a real volunteer, are you?" Ishimura asked, and Kyon now noticed that the overseer was holding his file. "You got lost in the city and they drafted you in, am I correct?"

Kyon silently nodded. Acting like Yuki sure saved a lot of energy, and Kyon didn't have any more to spare, being completely drained both physically and mentally at that point.

"I thought so much," Ishimura continued. "So, I'm giving you a choice. You can leave, if you still have somewhere to return to."

…_why would I want to go into a monster-infested city again?..._

Another beam shot out in the sky, and Kyon turned to face Ishimura. His face clearly showed concern and Kyon wondered if there was something personal in this for the man.

"Why are you doing this? Aren't you supposed to be upholding the law of the Emperor?"

"Because if you go with us, you'll be drafted for good, Kyon, and it will be like this every day from now on, for months and maybe years to come." The overseer paused, hesitating about something, then continued.

"I really shouldn't be telling you this, but the city is much safer now than it was during the day, and the only way you are now registered in the Imperial Guard is in this file. So if you still have a home, a family to return to…"

…_my family… my sister! I forgot about my sister! I was supposed to be home by dinner, damn it!..._

"I'll take your offer," Kyon quickly said. The man gave Kyon the file.

"If a patrol stops you, show it to them and say you got separated from a group that evacuated on foot. It is better than be mistaken for a marauder."

Kyon stood up and walked to an edge of an area illuminated by a few projectors workers used to work after dark. He folded the file and put it in his pocket.

"The Emperor preserves those who believe," Ishimura said, and Kyon caught a trace of bitterness in man's voice.

"Yeah."

He took a step forward and disappeared into the darkness.

**/||\**

**\||/****  
**

The atmosphere in the café was beyond sullen, it was grave. Yuki was sipping her drink quietly, hiding her eyes every time Kyon looked at her, Itsuki was nervously glancing around, and Mikuru looked like she was about to cry.

Of course, Haruhi wasn't noticing any of that. She was busy with her list, looking at it while munching a tip of her pencil. Finally, she sighed and crossed out their last activity for the summer – "other".

…_we did everything we could right? Right? We tried and we… failed? Succeeded?..._

"We've finished our list," Haruhi announced and stretched. "I wonder, was that enough? Is there anything you still would like to do?"

There was no answer, and for a moment, Kyon thought he saw something in Hahuhi's eyes, something that almost looked like despair.

…_no, It was not enough for you, Haruhi, it's never enough. I have to do something, or we will have to repeat everything again, just like we already did ten thousand times…_

Haruhi's expression brightened and she stood up, pushing their bill closer to Kyon.

"Oh well, I guess it's all there is. We sure managed to do a lot of stuff this summer, didn't we?"

There was no response from the brigade members again, and Kyon could tell the situation was getting more and more uncomfortable, especially for Haruhi. She forced a smile and took her bag from a chair.

"Well, I have plans for tomorrow, so you can all just rest at home. I'll see you all in the clubroom in two days."

She turned to leave, and in Kyon's eyes, her shape became blurry and layered, hundreds, thousands of layers, different clothes, shoes, bags, overlapping, shimmering…

…_no, wait, you can't leave, Haruhi! I have to stop her, I have to call out to her, to say something, but what? There's got to be a hint in what she said, but what did she say? What did she say?..._

The automated doors opened and Haruhi Suzumiya stepped out into a golden light of a setting sun. The light enveloped her and she disappeared.

With the soft sound the doors closed, sealing their fate.

And Kyon didn't even stand up from his chair.

**/||\**

**\||/****  
**

The moon was full, bathing the dead city in silvery light. Power was still down, and without meddling city lights the stars were glistening brightly in the night sky.

Kyon slowly made his way through the deserted streets. Every now and then, the city was lit by another vertical beam, jagged remains of buildings and trees casting out broken, sharp shadows.

He made it to the area around the school, but it was nothing like he remembered it during the day. Enemy obelisks were shattered, and one of the streets was blocked by crumbling remains of a monolith. Empty husks of scarabs littered the ground, turning to black metallic dust when he stepped on them.

He made it through the area and was now approaching his home. A few times Kyon saw military trucks and tanks on patrol, but avoided them easily in the dark. He entered his neighborhood and was relieved to see it avoided most of destruction.

His cell phone came to life, and he opened it. Over a "No network" message flashed another one,

"Incoming call: Koizumi Itsuki."

…_The day has made a full circle, hasn't it? He is going to invite me for a meeting at Nagato's apartment now…_

Kyon accepted the call and a stream of nonsense and insane laughter poured on him through the speaker. Then it turned to static, mixed with high-pitch giggling.

"Koizumi, is that you?"

"Yes, Kyon, yes! Can you hear me? Can you see me? Can you see?" The voice definitely belonged to Itsuki, but it was strange, jumbled and hysterical.

"See what?" Kyon decided to be polite. Frankly, all he wanted at that point was to get to his house as fast as he could, but he decided to listen for one last time.

"The beams! We have won, Kyon, can't you see? They are cowards, they are running away from us! We killed their general, we crushed them and they are running!"

…_the general? Could it be that Yuki?..._

Then he remembered something else from the fight, the sheets of paper frozen in the air, frozen in time.

"Asahina-san has another theory. She said-"

Kyon was interrupted by another burst of laughter. It subsided, and Itsuki spoke again, his voice full of disdain and pathos.

"Asahina-san this, Asahina-san that... Kyon, can't you see she is blind? Locked in her own flawed perception of what Haruhi Suzumiya is, she is blind! Blind! And I see!"

Kyon wanted to respond, but a military truck drove from around the corner, so he had to duck behind pile of rubble. Itsuki continued, uninterrupted.

"She thinks Haruhi is a destroyer, but Suzumiya-san is a creator, Kyon. She created this reality, this enormous closed space when she left. I am blessed, I have awakened and I have seen!"

"This precious closed space of yours has about an hour until collapsing," Kyon said bitterly. Itsuki's exalted tone was starting to get to him, but he wanted to listen till the end.

"Ha! Maybe the other ones collapsed, but this one will hold, oh yes it will. The Emperor protects, Kyon, the Emperor preserves. For I have seen it, I have seen!"

Kyon surveyed the street. The truck was gone, and he continued towards home.

"I don't think this is the world I want to live in, Koizumi." The laughter intensified, and Kyon decided he had heard enough. He pushed a button to end the call, but the phone didn't respond, switching to speakerphone instead.

"Who cares what you think, Kyon? You are nothing without Haruhi, unlike me. I have awakened, to do the Will of the Emperor, to smite his foes with the power of my mind! I gazed into the nightmare realm, the Warp, and I have seen! Even though my eyes boiled and I have gone blind, I still see more than you!"

"I am sorry for what happened to you, Koizumi. I need to get home to my sister. Farewell." Kyon turned the phone and proceeded with removing the battery cover.

"I've seen it all, don't you understand? The tomb ship in orbit, four gods of chaos, the fall of eldar… humanity will blast into space, Kyon, and there will be war! Millennia of w…"

With a click the battery left its slot and Kyon sighed. He put the phone back in his pocket and walked one last block to his house. On the outside, the house was just as he remembered it, the door showed no signs of hostile intrusion, even windows were intact. Kyon walked to the porch and inserted his key in the lock.

…_why I am so nervous right now? They can phase through walls, they can bend time and space, but they would never hurt my sister, because they don't need to. It's all about control, not slaughter, right?… _

He opened the door, walked in and prepared to say, "I'm home!", but he never did. In the middle of a hallway, a hole was torn in the floorboards, as if something dug through the foundation of a building and crawled outward, leaving a trail of concrete dust behind, a trail leading to the living room. And Kyon could clearly see a faint shimmering of the accursed green light, coming from behind a half-closed door.

…_I should probably just leave. Go to the street, surrender to the nearest patrol, return to the Guard, serve the Emperor…_

He walked down the hallway and stopped near the door, staring at deep claw marks at a door-case. A very faint clicking sound could now be heard from the living room.

…_but, just as Yuki said, I am so very tired…_

Kyon opened the door. The room was devastated, smashed TV, claw marks on the walls, black stains everywhere…

It sat on an overturned couch, holding a picture in its scintillating green claws, a picture his sister drew, a picture of a monolith. It gazed at the picture lovingly, oblivious to a world around it, clicking softly as its inner systems worked. It was humanoid in appearance, and its metallic form was even draped in tattered remains of a human skin.

Then Kyon realized who the person the skin formerly belonged to was.

He wanted to scream. He wanted to lash out at the creature, to tear the picture and skin away. He wanted to die.

He didn't do any of that. Instead, he closed the door silently and walked upstairs. The creature didn't notice, mesmerized by a picture, just as it was for hours already.

Kyon entered his room and stared at the empty notebook at the table. It was all too unreal, Yuki disappearing in a flash of energy, blood of Mikuru on his hands, raving, insane Itsuki, the skin of…

…_No! It never happened, none of it! I've been here all day, I never left the house, I've been trying to do my homework…_

Kyon sat and took a pencil. It fell out of his trembling fingers, and he picked it up. It fell out again, and rolled from a table to the floor.

…_it's no use, is it? No matter how hard I try now, I won't do it in time. The time is going to loop back soon, it has to, it ought to, it must…_

Kyon closed the notebook, went to bed and crawled under the sheets, still fully clothed. He reached out for a light switch and clicked it, but the room remained in darkness.

…_I wonder when the power went out… Oh, forget it, I no longer care. I'll just leave it to whichever me wakes up in this bed tomorrow…_

In the distance, the last monolith discharged its contents upward in a massive beam of data and energy, lighting Kyon's room for a moment. The alarm clock on the table slowly ticked to midnight.

And the thirty-first of August has ended.

**/||\**

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